{{Short description|Gelled incendiary mixture}} {{About|flammable liquids used for flame-type weaponry |other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Use American English|date=April 2022}} {{wikt | napalm}} [[File:F100 Napalm.gif|thumb|North American F-100 Super Sabre dropping napalm in a training exercise|332x332px]]
'''Napalm''' is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium salts of ''na''phthenic acid and ''palm''itic acid.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/napalm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826104320/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/napalm |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 August 2013 |title=Oxford Dictionaries – napalm: definition of napalm |access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref> A team led by chemist Louis Fieser originally developed napalm for the US Chemical Warfare Service in 1942 in a secret laboratory at Harvard University.<ref name=neer1>{{cite journal |doi =10.1038/496029a |title =Books in brief. Napalm: An American Biography Robert M. Neer Harvard University Press 352 pp. |journal =Nature |volume =496 |issue =7443 |page =29 |year =2013 |doi-access =free }}</ref> Of immediate first interest was its viability as an incendiary device to be used in American fire-bombing campaigns during World War II; its potential to be coherently projected into a solid stream that would carry for distance (instead of as a bloomy fireball of pure gasoline) resulted in widespread adoption in infantry and tank-/boat-mounted flamethrowers as well.
Napalm burns at temperatures ranging from {{convert|800|to|1200|C}}.<ref>{{cite web |last =Szczepanski |first =Kallie |date =2017-02-10 |title =Napalm and Agent Orange in the Vietnam War |url =https://www.thoughtco.com/napalm-and-agent-orange-in-vietnam-war-195797 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170920030323/https://www.thoughtco.com/napalm-and-agent-orange-in-vietnam-war-195797 |archive-date =2017-09-20 |access-date =2024-11-27 |website =ThoughtCo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last =Dolan |first =Michael J. |date =September 1953 |title =Napalm |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=7aJFAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-P9 |journal =Military Review |volume =13 |issue =6 |pages =9–18}}</ref> It burns longer than gasoline, is more easily dispersed, and adheres to its targets. These traits make it both effective and controversial. It has been widely used from the air and from the ground, the largest use having been via airdropped bombs in World War II in the incendiary attacks on Japanese cities, in 1945. The U.S. military have used it for close air support roles in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and various others. Napalm has also fueled most of the flamethrowers (tank-, ship-, and infantry-based) used since World War II, giving them much greater range. As a direct successor to napalm, the U.S. Armed Forces now{{as of?|date=May 2026}} use Mark 77 bombs.
== Development == [[File:Napalm first test memorial sign.png|thumb|alt=Photo shows a metal sign bolted to a wooden telephone pole with a road, field, and trees in the background. The sign reads "Napalm test #1 / July 4, 1942" with an arrow pointing to the field to the right. Above the text is a black and white photo of an explosion in the field, with the buildings of Harvard University seen in the background.|Photo of a sign memorializing the first test of napalm on July 4, 1942, near Harvard University's Ohiri Field in Boston, Massachusetts USA.|270x270px]] The development of napalm was precipitated by the use of jellied gasoline mixtures by the Allied forces during World War II.<ref name="PATRv6">{{cite book |last1=Fedoroff |first1=Basil T. |url=https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA011845/mode/2up |title=Encyclopedia of Explosives and Related Items |last2=Sheffield |first2=Oliver E. |publisher=Picatinny Arsenal |year=1974 |volume=6 |location=Morris County |pages=F56–F58 |chapter=Flame Throwers—Liquids and Gels |lccn=61-61759 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA011845/page/n437 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Latex, used in these early forms of incendiary devices, became scarce, since natural rubber was almost impossible to obtain after the Japanese army captured the rubber plantations in Malaya, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
This shortage of natural rubber prompted chemists at US companies such as DuPont and Standard Oil of New Jersey, and researchers at Harvard University, to develop factory-made alternatives: artificial rubber for all uses, including vehicle tires, tank tracks, gaskets, hoses, medical supplies and rain clothing. A team of chemists led by Louis Fieser at Harvard University was the first to develop synthetic napalm during 1942.<ref name="UofBristol">{{cite web |year=2001 |title=Napalm |url=http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/wright/napalm.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030917002422/https://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/wright/napalm.htm |archive-date=2003-09-17 |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=chm.bris.ac.uk |publisher=University of Bristol}}</ref> "The production of napalm was first entrusted to Nuodex Products, and by the middle of April 1942 they had developed a brown, dry powder that was not sticky by itself, but when mixed with gasoline turned into an extremely sticky and flammable substance." One of Fieser's colleagues suggested adding phosphorus to the mix which increased the "ability to penetrate deeply [...] into the musculature, where it would continue to burn day after day."<ref name="Lindqvist 2001 105">{{cite book |last=Lindqvist |first=Sven |author-link=Sven Lindqvist |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbombing0000lind_e5k9 |title=A History of Bombing |publisher=The New Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-56584-625-8 |location=New York |page=105 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
On 4 July 1942, the first test occurred on the football field near the Harvard Business School.<ref name="Lindqvist 2001 105"/> Tests under operational conditions were carried out at Jefferson Proving Ground on condemned farm buildings and subsequently at Dugway Proving Ground on buildings designed and constructed to represent those to be found in German and Japanese villages.<ref name="Noyes">{{cite book |title=Science in World War II: Chemistry |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=1948 |editor-last=Noyes |editor-first=W.A. Jr. |location=Boston |pages=392–393}}</ref> This new mixture of chemicals was first approved for use on the front lines in 1943.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Guillaume |first=Marine |date=December 2016 |title=Napalm in US Bombing Doctrine and Practice, 1942-1975 |url=https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-1253.pdf |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |volume=14 |issue=23 |pages=1–15}}</ref> <!-- This paragraph involves production, not development; doesn't belong here but don't know where else to move it too...
From 1965 to 1969, the Dow Chemical Company manufactured napalm for the American armed forces.<ref name=":0" /> After news reports of napalm's deadly and disfiguring effects were published, Dow Chemical experienced boycotts of its products, and its recruiters for new chemists, chemical engineers, etc., graduating from college were subject to campus boycotts and protests.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://1967.wisc.edu/ |title=A Turning Point |author=University of Wisconsin-Madison |date=2017 |access-date= 26 October 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Worland |first=Gayle |date=8 October 2017 |title=50 years ago, 'Dow Day' left its mark on Madison |url=https://host.madison.com/wsj/article_47f7dc75-e30a-5a16-8cf1-044eebc66f18.html |access-date=26 October 2017 |magazine=Wisconsin State Journal}}</ref> The management of the company decided that its "first obligation was the government".<ref>[http://www2.vcdh.Virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/napalm.html "Napalm History"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006134128/http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/napalm.html |date=2011-10-06 }} Virginia Center for Digital History</ref> Meanwhile, napalm became a symbol for the Vietnam War.<ref>[http://www2.vcdh.Virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/napalm.html Napalm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006134128/http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/napalm.html |date=6 October 2011 }}. vcdh.virginia.edu. Retrieved on 11 February 2010.</ref>-->
== Military use == === World War II 1939–1945 === [[File:Napalm Bombing of Brunei Bay, Borneo.jpg|thumb|Results of a napalm strike by the United States Army Air Force on a Japanese outpost off the coast of the island of Borneo]] The first use of napalm in combat was in August 1943 during the Allied invasion of Sicily, when American troops using napalm-fueled flamethrowers burned down a wheat field where German forces were believed to be hiding.<ref name=":1" /> Napalm incendiary bombs were first used the following year, although the exact date and battle are disputed.{{Efn|Claimed dates including a 15 February air raid on Pohnpei,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> a 6 March air raid on Berlin,<ref name="Berlin" /><ref name="bfbs">{{Cite web |date=2021-08-02 |title=What Is Napalm And Is It Still Used In Warfare? |url=https://www.forcesnews.com/technology/weapons-and-kit/what-napalm-and-it-still-used-warfare |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=BFBS Forces News}}</ref> and a 18 July air raid on Tinian.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Henry I. Jr. |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofusmarin03usma |title=Central Pacific Drive |last2=Nalty |first2=Bernard C. |last3=Turnbladh |first3=Edwin T. |publisher=US Marine Corps |year=1966 |series=History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II |volume=3 |location=Washington D.C. |oclc=927428034 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>}}
Two-thirds of napalm bombs produced during World War II were used in the Pacific War. Napalm was often deployed against Japanese fortifications on Saipan, Iwo Jima, the Philippines, and Okinawa, where deeply dug-in Japanese troops refused to surrender.<ref name="Berlin">{{Cite book |last1=Kebler |first1=Brooks E. |url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalwarfares00kleb |title=The Chemical Warfare Service: Chemicals in Combat |last2=Birdsell |first2=Dale |publisher=United States Army |year=1966 |editor-last=Conn |editor-first=Stetson |location=Washington D.C. |pages=159–163, 630–635 |lccn=66-60001 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Following a shortage of conventional thermite bombs, general Curtis E. LeMay, among other high-ranking servicemen of the United States Army Air Forces, ordered air raids on Japan to start using napalm instead.<ref> {{Cite book |last=De Chant |first=John A. |title=Devilbirds: The Story of United States Marine Corps Aviation in World War II |publisher=Harper & Brothers Publishers |year=1947 |location=New York |page=155 |oclc=698844424}}</ref> A 1946 report by the National Defense Research Council claims that 40,000 tons of M69s were dropped on Japan throughout the war,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bauer |first1=E.E. |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0221598.pdf |title=Fire Warfare, Incendiaries and Flame Throwers |last2=Bogrow |first2=Alexander |last3=Engisch |first3=G.W. |last4=Haworth |first4=M.D. |last5=Hulse |first5=S.M. |last6=Keevil |first6=C.S. |last7=Knox |first7=W.T. |last8=McMillen |first8=E.L. |last9=Messing |first9=R.F. |publisher=National Defense Research Council |year=1946 |editor-last=Ewell |editor-first=Raymond H. |location=Washington D.C. |editor-last2=Newhall |editor-first2=Robert M. |last10=Mysels |first10=K.H. |last11=Reed |first11=C.E. |last12=Stanbury |first12=G.R.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Wellerstein |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Wellerstein |date=August 30, 2013 |title=Who Made That Firebomb? |url=http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/08/30/who-made-that-firebomb |access-date=September 12, 2020 |website=RESTRICTED DATA: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog}}</ref> damaging 64 cities and causing more deaths than the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doan-Nguyen |first=Ryan H. |date=2023-02-16 |title=Napalm, Birthed in Harvard's Basement |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/2/16/napalm-scrut/ |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=The Harvard Crimson}}</ref>
German fortifications and transportation hubs were targeted with napalm during both Operation Overlord and the Battle of the Bulge, sometimes in conjunction with artillery.<ref name="Berlin" /> During the Allied siege of La Rochelle, napalm was dropped on the outskirts of the Royan pocket, inadvertently killing French civilians.<ref>{{cite book |author=Zinn |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Zinn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGLkwCNI7sIC |title=The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy |publisher=Seven Stories Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-1-888363-54-8 |location=New York |pages=267–281 |chapter=The Bombing of Royan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGLkwCNI7sIC&pg=PA267 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
The Royal Air Force (RAF) used napalm to a limited extent, in both the Pacific War and European Theatre of World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=McCue |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul McCue |title=SAS Operation Bulbasket: Behind the Lines in Occupied France, 1944 |last2=Baker |first2=Max |publisher=Pen and Sword Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-1-4738-1795-1 |location=Barnsley |pages=104}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McKinstry |first=Leo |author-link=Leo McKinstry |url=https://archive.org/details/hurricanevictoro0000mcki/mode/2up |title=Hurricane: Victor of the Battle of Britain |date=2011 |publisher=John Murray |isbn=978-1-84854-341-6 |location=London |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
=== Korean War 1950–1953 === Napalm was widely used by the United States during the Korean War.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Harden |first=Blaine |date=2017-10-02 |title=How One Man Helped Burn Down North Korea |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/02/donald-nichols-book-north-korea-215665/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=POLITICO Magazine}}</ref> The US Air Force "dropped more than 30,000 tons of napalm on Korea."<ref>Conway-Lanz 2006, p. 180.</ref><ref>Futrell, U.S. Air Force in Korea, p. 692.</ref>
"Oceans of [napalm] were dropped on Korea silently or without notice in America, with much more devastating effect, since the DPRK had many more populous cities and urban industrial installations than did Vietnam."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cumings |first=Bruce |title=The Korean War: A History |date=2011 |publisher=Random House Inc |isbn=978-0-8129-7896-4 |location=New York (N.Y.) |pages=152}}</ref> The ground forces in South Korea holding defensive positions were often outnumbered by Chinese and North Koreans, but U.S. Air Force and Navy aviators had control of the air over nearly all of the Korean Peninsula. Hence, the American and other UN aviators used napalm for close air support of the ground troops.<ref name=":2" /> Napalm was used most notably at the beginning of the Battle of Outpost Harry.<ref>{{Cite interview |last=Burkhalter |first=Thomas H. |interviewer=Mark Van Ells |title=Transcript of an Oral History Interview with THOMAS H. BURKHALTER |url=https://wisvetsmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BurkhalterThomas-_OH509.pdf |access-date=2024-11-26 |publisher=Wisconsin Veterans Museum |date=1996-02-22 |quote=Outpost Harry we got air support, a mixed blessing... God, they’d drop napalm from enormous heights over there.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Elphick |first=James |date=2019-01-28 |title=How the soldiers of Outpost Harry decimated an entire Chinese Division |url=https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/how-the-soldiers-of-outpost-harry-decimated-an-entire-chinese-division/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=We Are The Mighty}}</ref>
Eighth Army chemical officer Donald Bode reported that, on an "average good day," UN Command pilots used 70,000 gallons (260,000 liters) of napalm, with approximately 60,000 gallons ({{Convert|60000|USgal|l|abbr=off|sp=us|disp=output only}}) of this thrown by U.S. forces.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Neer |first1=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/napalmamericanbi0000neer/mode/2up |title=Napalm: An American Biography |date=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-07301-2 |location=Cambridge |pages= |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The ''New York Herald Tribune'' hailed napalm, "the No. 1 Weapon in Korea." "Furthermore, the U.S. Air Force loved this infernal jelly, its 'wonder weapon,' as attested to by many articles in 'trade' journals of the time."<ref>Cumings 2010, pp. 152–153.</ref> While General Ridgway deplored the free-fire air zones he saw at times, he nonetheless wanted 1000-pound napalm bombs to be dropped from B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers in early 1951, in order to "wipe out all life in tactical locality and save the lives of our soldiers."<ref>Cumings 2019, p. 153.</ref>
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill privately criticized the use of napalm in Korea, writing that it was "very cruel," as US and UN forces were "splashing it all over the civilian population" and "tortur[ing] great masses of people." He conveyed these sentiments to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Omar Bradley. Publicly, however, Churchill allowed Bradley "to issue a statement that confirmed U.K. support for U.S. napalm attacks."<ref name=":1" /> [[File:US riverboat using napalm in Vietnam.jpg|thumb|A "Zippo" riverboat of the US Brown-water navy firing an ignited napalm mixture from a riverboat-mounted flamethrower in Vietnam]]
=== Vietnam War 1955–1975 === {{Expand section|date=November 2024}} Napalm became an intrinsic element of US military action during the Vietnam War as forces made increasing use of it for its tactical and psychological effects.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://thevietnamwar.info/napalm-vietnam-war/|title=Napalm in Vietnam War|last=Rohn|first=Alan|website=The Vietnam War|date=18 January 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=28 October 2019}}</ref> Reportedly about {{Convert|388000|ST|t|abbr=off|disp=output only}} (388,000 short tons; {{Convert|388000|ST|LT|disp=output only}}) of US napalm bombs were dropped in the region between 1963 and 1973.<ref name=":1" /> The US Air Force and Navy used napalm with great effect against all kinds of targets, such as troops, tanks, buildings, jungles, and even railroad tunnels. The effect was not always purely physical as its destructive effects and ability to spread uncontrolled had psychological effects on Vietnamese forces and civilians as well.<ref>{{cite web|title=Liquid Fire – How Napalm Was Used in the Vietnam War|url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/vietnam-war/history-napalm-vietnam-war.html/2|website=www.warhistoryonline.com|date=June 2016 |publisher=Nikola Budanovic|access-date=8 November 2017|ref=Napalm became a psychological weapon, as the enemy was terrified of the hell on earth caused by its use.}}</ref>
=== Others === During the Greek Civil War, after the capture of Mount Vitsi during Operation Pyrsos, the Hellenic Air Force bombed Mount Grammos — a stronghold for the opposing Democratic Army of Greece — with US-supplied napalm.<ref>{{Cite book |last=House |first=Jonathan Mallory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5lxAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70 |title=A Military History of the Cold War, 1944–1962 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2014 |isbn=9780806142623 |page=[https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo0000hous/page/70/mode/2up 70] |language=en |via=Google Books|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo0000hous|archive-date=2023-07-19|url-status=live|oclc=1392372812|ol=OL25252850M|lccn=2012008651}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Featherstone |first1=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCKBDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA211 |title=The Last Ottomans: The Muslim Minority of Greece, 1940–49 |last2=Papadimitriou |first2=Dimitris |last3=Mamarelis |first3=Argyris |last4=Niarchos |first4=Georgios |date=2011 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-29465-3 |page=211 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref>
The French Air Force regularly used napalm for close air support of ground operations in both the First Indochina War<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fall |first=Bernard B. |author-link=Bernard B. Fall |url=https://archive.org/details/StreetWithoutJoy |title=Street Without Joy |date=1961 |publisher=Stackpole Books |location=Harrisburg |pages=34–37, 197 |oclc=1020224769 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Grant |first=Rebecca |date=August 2004 |title=Dien Bien Phu |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/app/uploads/2004/08/0804_August2004.pdf |access-date=2024-11-27 |magazine=Air Force Magazine |pages=78–86 |volume=87 |issue=8}}</ref> and the Algerian War.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Stora |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Stora |date=October 2007 |title=Avoir 20 ans en Kabylie |trans-title=Being 20 years old in Kabylie |url=https://www.lhistoire.fr/avoir-20-ans-en-kabylie |access-date=2024-11-27 |magazine=L'Histoire |pages=28–29 |language=fr |issue=324}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Kellou |first=Dorothee M. |title=A Microhistory of the Forced Resettlement of the Algerian Muslim Population During the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962): Mansourah, Kabylia |date=2012-04-18 |access-date=2024-11-27 |degree=MA |publisher=Georgetown University |url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/557506/Kellou_georgetown_0076M_11824.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref> At first, the canisters were simply pushed out the cargo doors of transport planes, such as the Amiot AAC.1;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Forsgren |first=Jan |date=2022-02-07 |title=Cold War History: French Ju 52s |url=https://www.key.aero/article/cold-war-history-french-ju-52s |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=Key Aero}}</ref> later mostly B-26 bombers were used.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
Peruvian forces employed napalm throughout the 1960s against both communist insurgents and the Matsés indigenous group; four prominent Matsés villages were bombed during the Matsés massacre in 1964.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Colby |first1=Gerard |author-link1=Gerard Colby |url=https://archive.org/details/ConquestOfTheAmazon |title=Thy Will Be Done – The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil |last2=Dennett |first2=Charlotte |date=1995 |publisher=HarperPerennial |isbn=978-0-06-016764-6 |location=New York |pages=466, 491–493 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
From 1968 to 1978, Rhodesia produced a variant of napalm for use in the Rhodesian Bush War,<ref name="Fireforce">{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=Fireforce Exposed: Rhodesian Security Forces and Their Role in Defending White Supremacy |publisher=The Anti-Apartheid Movement |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-900065-04-0 |location=London |pages=39–40}}</ref> nicknamed ''Frantan'' (short for "frangible tank").<ref>{{cite book |last=Petter-Bowyer |first=P.J.H. |title=Winds of Destruction: the Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot |publisher=30° South Publishers |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-9584890-3-4 |edition=2nd |location=Johannesburg}}</ref> Around the same time, its ally South Africa targeted guerrilla bases in Angola with napalm during the South African Border War.<ref name="Nortje">{{cite book |last=Nortje |first=Piet |title=32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit |publisher=Zebra Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-86872-914-2 |location=New York |page=158}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baines |first=Gary |year=2012 |title=Vietnam Analogies and Metaphors: The Cultural Codification of South Africa's Border War |journal=Safundi |volume=12 |issue=1–2 |pages=73–90 |doi=10.1080/17533171.2011.642591}}</ref>
In 1974, Turkey used napalm in both phases of the invasion of Cyprus.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1974-07-22 |title=Where Tourists Sunbathed Just Days Ago, Diving Jets, Bombs and Burning Mountains (Published 1974) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/22/archives/where-tourists-sunbathed-just-daysago-diving-jets-bombs-and-burning.html |access-date=2025-08-14 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-02-16 |title=Austria remembers Cyprus napalm victims |url=https://www.financialmirror.com/2022/02/16/austria-remembers-cyprus-napalm-victims/ |access-date=2025-08-14 |website=Financial Mirror |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2018, Turkey was accused of using napalm in Operation Olive Branch against Kurdish nationalist groups.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dettmer |first=Jamie |date=2018-01-28 |title=Kurds Accuse Turks of Dropping Napalm |url=https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/kurds-accuse-turks-dropping-napalm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925211954/https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/kurds-accuse-turks-dropping-napalm/ |archive-date=25 September 2020 |access-date=8 August 2020 |website=Voice of America}}</ref>
== Antipersonnel effects == When used as a part of an incendiary weapon, napalm causes severe burns. One napalm firebomb released from a low-flying plane can damage an area of {{convert|2500|yd2|m2|sp=us|order=}}.<ref name="emed" />[[File:The Terror of War.jpg|thumb|right|419x419px|Phan Thi Kim Phuc, burned with napalm at the age of 9 during the Vietnam War (1972)]]
During combustion, napalm deoxygenates the available air and generates carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, so asphyxiation, loss of consciousness and death are also possible.<ref name="emed" /> Napalm is lethal even for dug-in enemy personnel, as it flows into foxholes, tunnels, drainage and irrigation ditches, bunkers and other improvised troop shelters. Even people in undamaged shelters can be killed by hyperthermia, radiant heat, dehydration, asphyxiation, smoke exposure or carbon monoxide poisoning.<ref name="emed">{{Cite web |last=Vearrier |first=David |date=2022-03-02 |editor-last=Dembek |editor-first=Zygmunt F. |title=Napalm Exposure |url=https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/833665-overview |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=eMedicine}}</ref> Crews of armored fighting vehicles are also vulnerable, due to the intense heat conducted through the armor. Even in the case of a near miss, the heat can be enough to disable a vehicle.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kayne |first=Seymour M. |chapter=Napalm |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA057762/page/n185 |title=Encyclopedia of Explosives and Related Items |publisher=Picatinny Arsenal |year=1974 |volume=8 |location=Morris County, New Jersey |pages=N2–N3 |lccn=61-61759 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Reporters in the Korean War, for example, saw "case after case of civilians drenched in napalm — the whole body 'covered with a hard, black crust sprinkled with yellow pus.'"<ref name=":4">Cumings 2010, p. 153.</ref> In another instance, when Pfc. James Ransome, Jr.'s unit suffered a "friendly" hit of napalm: "his men rolled in the snow in agony ... as their skin burned to a crisp and peeled back 'like fried potato chips.'<ref name=":4" />
== International law == International law has banned the use of napalm or other incendiary weapons against civilian populations and civilian areas in international armed conflicts under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which was adopted in 1980 and entered into force in December 1983.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Guillaume |first=Marine |date=December 2016 |title=Napalm in US Bombing Doctrine and Practice, 1942-1975 |url=https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-1253.pdf |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |volume=14 |issue=23 |pages=1–15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Docherty |first1=Bonnie |last2=Shortell |first2=Erin |last3=Macgale |first3=Jamie |last4=Chugh |first4=Aanchal |last5=Rather |first5=Shaiba |date=2020-11-09 |editor-last=Goose |editor-first=Steve |editor2-last=Wareham |editor2-first=Mary |title=They Burn Through Everything": The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/11/09/they-burn-through-everything/human-cost-incendiary-weapons-and-limits |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Boddy |first=Alexis |date=2024-10-22 |editor-last=Joseph |editor-first=James |title=The Indiscriminate Danger of White Phosphorus: Exploring Its Use and Legal Status in Modern Warfare |url=https://www.jurist.org/features/2024/10/22/the-indiscriminate-danger-of-white-phosphorus-exploring-its-use-and-legal-status-in-modern-warfare/ |access-date=2024-11-29 |website=Jurist News}}</ref> It does not, however, impose a total ban on their use, specifically against legitimate military targets.
{{As of|2023|1|post=,}} 126 countries have ratified Protocol III.<ref name="status2">{{cite web |title=Convention On Prohibitions Or Restrictions On The Use Of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed To Be Excessively Injurious Or To Have Indiscriminate Effects (With Protocols I, II And III) |url=https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20II/Chapter%20XXVI/XXVI-2.en.pdf |accessdate=14 January 2023 |publisher=United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 1342 |page=137}}</ref>
=== United States === The position of the United States on the prohibition of napalm by international convention is qualified. The U.S. did not ratify the convention prohibiting napalm until almost three decades after its adoption by the UN General Assembly. When the U.S. finally ratified the convention, "it made an express reservation of 'the right to use incendiary weapons against military objectives located in concentrations of civilians where it is judged that such use would cause fewer casualties and/or less collateral damage than alternative weapons."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pembroke|first=Michael|title=Korea: where the American century began|date=2018|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=978-1-78607-473-7|location=London, England}}</ref>
==See also== * Conventional weapon * Incendiary weapon * Carpet bombing * Korean War * Vietnam War * {{annotated link|Flame fougasse}} * {{annotated link|Triethylaluminium}} * {{annotated link|M69 incendiary}} * {{annotated link|Mark 77 bomb}} * {{annotated link|White phosphorus munition}} * {{annotated link|F.R.A.S. (weapon)}} * {{annotated link|Molotov cocktail}} * {{annotated link|Napalm Sticks to Kids|quote=yes}} * {{annotated link|Greek fire}}
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{Wiktionary}} {{Commons category|Napalm}} * {{YouTube|nqEy5NjJOrY|Hawker Tempest WW II testing including Napalm dropping}}
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Category:Incendiary weapons Category:World War II weapons Category:American inventions Category:Soaps Category:Thickening agents